


That One Time Bucky is a Kid and Afraid of Thunderstorms

by Doteruna



Category: Captain America (Movies), Doctor Strange (2016), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kid Bucky Barnes, Kid Fic, M/M, Protective Cape of Levitation, Protective Cloak of Levitation, Protective Steve Rogers, Smol Bucky, Smol Bucky Barnes, Spoopy Thunderstorms, Steeb - Freeform, The Cape of Levitation is awesome, Thunderstorms, but I guess that's a given, de-age, scared Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doteruna/pseuds/Doteruna
Summary: De-aged Bucky ends up being comforted by the Cape of Levitation during a super spoopy thunderstorm.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aware that none of this really makes sense but I feel like the cape knows when people feel they need protection so here ya go tiny Bucky calling Steve 'Steeb' and calling Stephen 'Steeben' just to mess with him

Tony needs his coffee. 

 

At least three cups are required in the morning before he can deal with anyone else. With multiple Avengers living in the tower, it’s inevitable that someone will cross him on the way to the kitchen; after the first few incidences, they learned to avoid the genius until he had some caffeine in him. Before the first cup, Tony can barely walk straight, let alone hold a conversation. 

 

That’s why Clint nearly fell out of his vent when a very high-pitched screech came from the living room, and everyone came running to see Tony holding his foot, Bucky’s shiny metal arm detached on the ground in front of him. 

 

“Why is that there? Where’s the rest of Barnes?” he complained, gingerly putting his stubbed toe back on the ground. Natasha waited for Clint to climb out of the vent before whispering in his ear, and Steve began to check every room on the communal floor for his boyfriend. Wanda bent over to look at the arm and Stephen stepped into the room just as Steve came back in, a small form held to his chest. 

 

“Found him,” Steve said, putting the tiny, five-year-old Bucky onto the couch and sitting next to him. “Hiding behind his bed.” The child stared at them all with wide eyes, cuddling up next to Steve but still watching the room. 

 

“Why the hell is Barnes a kid?” Tony asked, picking up the arm he designed for the sergeant. He could see the port in Bucky’s shoulder, shrunken down to fit the tiny shoulder as if the arm simply clipped off and stayed big while the rest of him shrank.

 

“Oh, um, that miiiiight be my fault,” Stephen said, awkwardly scratching his neck. “I was attempting a new spell to reverse the age of a plant in my room. I guess when I heard Bucky moving around it distracted my focus from the plant to him.”

 

“Is it permanent?” Natasha asked, sitting on Bucky’s other side and ruffling his still shoulder-length hair. 

 

“Only until I find the spell to reverse it,” Stephen said seriously. “It’ll take some time to go through my books but I’ll find it.” With that, he swept out of the room, the effect somewhat less dramatic since he was still in his pajamas. Tony just limped to the coffeemaker and started the brew, while Wanda inspected the arm for any damage. Clint wandered back to his vent to keep an eye on things while Natasha began to speak to Bucky. 

 

“Do you remember anything, Bucky?” she asked quietly, and Bucky looked up at her with big blue eyes and blinked.

 

“Nat,” he said, his voice high and wobbly. “I remember you, and Steeb, and Tony, but I don’t remember why you’re older than me or why I don’t have an arm.”

 

“Okay, honey, it’s good that you remember us,” Nat said, and Bucky clambered into her lap, resting his head on her chest. “Steeb, huh?” She raised and eyebrow and the blonde groaned. 

 

“He had trouble with V’s when he was young,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter. It’s like his memory of events and stuff is buried a little deeper in his mind than people; he recognized me as soon as I opened our bedroom door.”

 

“Well, since he’s not in any pain and we aren’t under attack by magic-wielding aliens or anything, I’ll let Fury know what’s happened and we’ll continue the day like we usually would. Hopefully our new sorcerer friend will find out a way to fix it soon.”

 

 

 

It was nearly night, and Bucky had gone through a long day of people cooing at him, Stephen’s random tests that he called spells, and Steve wanting to cuddle with him. To be fair, five-year-old Bucky was pretty damn adorable, but even Natasha had to pull Steve away a few times when the kid got irritable. 

 

They had finished dinner, and Clint was reading a bedtime story to Bucky while Steve moved a blanket out to the couch. He could have stayed in the room with Bucky, but the kid tended to thrash in his sleep and assured ‘Steeb’ that he would be fine alone in the room. Clint was almost done with the book that Wanda had suggested when a rolling boom of thunder echoed distantly, and Bucky flinched. 

 

“Scared of a little thunder, huh, kid?” Clint teased, only to duck when a pillow was flung at his head. 

 

“No,” Bucky said stubbornly. “And I’m sleepy now. Go away.” 

 

“Fine, fine, I see where I’m not wanted,” Clint said breezily, standing up and cracking his back. “When you pee your pants in fear, I’m right down the hall, little man.”

 

“Fuck off,” Bucky retorted, and Clint snorted. They’d given up trying to control the kid’s language at lunch, when he told Tony that he was five, not three, and no, Tony, you can’t try to build me a little arm, I’m gonna be bigger than you by tomorrow, so screw off. 

 

Clint went out to the living room where Nat, Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Stephen were spread out along the sofas and chairs, getting ready to watch a movie. Stephen was sitting in an armchair, rubbing his hands absently to soothe them while three books floated in the air in front of him, flipping pages without prompting. The Cape of Levitation was curled softly around his shoulders. 

 

“The little assassin is down for the night,” Clint said, flopping down onto one of the couches with Natasha. “Let’s get this movie started.”

 

They were halfway through the film when the Cape of Levitation began to squirm and struggle, trying to get out from where Stephen was sitting on it. After a moment, the sorcerer stood up enough for the fabric to shoot up and glide down the hallway. Tony eyed it warily, and Stephen just explained the the Cape did that sometimes. It did have a mind of it’s own, after all. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Bucky was tucked underneath the giant king-size bed, curled into a ball and shaking with every clap of thunder that boomed. Logically, he knew that there was nothing to fear, it was just noise, but the child in him that had been brought to the surface had never like the sound; he was afraid of thunderstorms, something that clung to him until he was almost twelve. The rain pattered on the window with sharp taps, and he almost missed the soft tapping on his door. 

 

“H-Huh?” Bucky whispered, not wanting to come out from underneath the bed and hoping it was Steve, or worse, Tony asking to come into the room. After a second, he could see the bottom of the door being pushed open, and Stephen’s cape came floating under the bed, tickling him with one corner. He giggled, and another corner came up to wipe away the tears that were beading on his face. The cape wrapped around him comfortingly, and then began to shepherd him out from under the bed, towards the door. Bucky could hear the sounds of the movie and people laughing from down the hall, and allowed the cape to smother him and move him along. 

 

Inside the living room, Stephen’s head came up, and he turned just in time to see his cape pull-push tiny Bucky into the room. Everyone else turned to look just as another clap of thunder came, and they saw Bucky huddle down further into the folds of the cape that wrapped even tighter around him. Clint “aww”ed and Steve scooted over to give Bucky enough room to climb up and the cape moved to envelope both super-soldiers, leaving only Bucky’s eyes and messy brown hair to peep over the top. 

 

“So that’s where you went,” Stephen mused. When Tony just looked at him, he continued, “The cape likes to protect people. It saved my life the first time we met, several times over, in fact. I guess something spooked the sergeant and the cape felt it.” 

 

“Bucky?” Steve asked, looking at his friend. “Was it the thunder?” Bucky nodded, and when Tony tried to smother a laugh with his hand, he glared at the billionaire with all the contempt a small five-year-old could muster. Of course, this only made Tony laugh harder, but Bucky decided to reserve his punishment for when he was bigger than the engineer again. 

 

“Well, the cape felt that you needed protection, so it went to you to give you the help you needed. You feeling any better?” Bucky nodded again, and Stephen smiled. 

 

“Thanks, Steeben,” Bucky whispered, and Stephen nodded back graciously before turning back to his books. Then, “Your beard is waayyy better than Tony’s.” 

 

This made everyone laugh--everyone but Tony, that is. 

 

 

The next day, Stephen found the spell to give Bucky his true age back, the Cape of Levitation stayed with the sorcerer again, and Tony tried several times to reiterate just how superior his facial hair was to everyone else’s.


End file.
